June 1, 2006
TDA Purchases Schumacher's School of Dance
Paul Henderson, owner of Tiffany's Dance Academy in Livermore,
walked into 222 Mosswood Way - Schumacher's School of Dance in South
San Francisco on March 2006. He had been informed by a friend
that the owners of Schumacher's, Bud, Dolly and Dorothy Schumacher
were ready to retire. He discussed the situation with his
wife, Tiffany who was completely distracted by the upcoming recitals
of her own. He told her he was just going to go take a
look...see if it was for real.
A black and silver sign on the window near the front door proudly
pointed out that the studio was celebrating it's 40th year...but the
sign was three years old.
Since 1963 Schumacher's School of Dance had been training the
very best dancers in the Bay Area. It is the largest and
oldest dance school in Northern California. Henderson was
immediately overcome by the sense of thousands of young dancers who
had grown up at the facility.
The lobby, he noticed, was much larger than their lobby at their
Livermore studio. The carpet was clean and the air smelled of
carpet freshener. The staff was in the spacious office and
they eyed Henderson suspiciously.
Dolly, the daughter of Bud and Dorothy Schumacher shook
Henderson's hand and, with a tear in her eye began to show him
around the facility. He toured the dancewear store, stocked
full of pink leather ballet shoes, black and pink leotards with the
Schumacher logo, skirts, wrap sweaters...and a cash register.
She took him up the stairs to view the four dance studios.
The first studio is large with a shiny wood floor...polished and
completely void of scrapes and marks that cover most dance studio
floors. A sign near the door stated "No Street Shoes".
She showed him the "voice" studio and explained that it was too
small for a real dance class, but it was perfect for voice.
The old piano pressed against the wall completed the charm of the
room. The third room was long and narrow with mirrors on one
wall. This wood floor was scuffed...from all the tap-dancing.
The last studio, a large room with small windows on the far wall,
mirrors on two walls and another scuffed wooden floor was where they
rehearsed the massive production numbers that Schumacher's is famous
for.
Henderson was impressed, not so much with the dance studios, but
with the old posters on the wall, the hundreds of pictures of dance
students lining the walls. He was overwhelmed with the history
of the place.
Next she took him to a funny little closet just behind the fourth
dance studio. There were, strangely, two doors entering the
tiny room which was stuffed to the ceiling with trophies from past
competitions. Henderson noticed a rickety stairway on the back
wall of the closet and wondered where on earth it could possibly go.
He wondered just how big was this building. Dolly made her way
to the stairway and proceeded to climb. She told him to watch
his head.
They were in the attic. A space no more than 5 feet tall
with plywood floors. Lining the back wall of the attic were
rows and rows of old costumes, props, fabrics, and more trophies.
History.
Henderson sat down on the plywood and gazed at the stuff.
Dolly sat down next to him and that's where they worked out the
details...away from the staff and the the hundreds of students who
did not yet know that their studio was for sale.
In May of 2006, Paul and Tiffany Henderson - owners of Tiffany's
Dance Academy officially took over ownership of Northern
California's oldest and largest dance studio. They have both
committed to preserving the sense of history and the passion of Bud,
Dorothy and Dolly.
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